


Alliance

by Palefire73



Series: Prisoners. The Chronicles of Loki and Erika [23]
Category: Loki - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 13:22:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18661261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palefire73/pseuds/Palefire73
Summary: Erika considers Loki's potentially life-changing question.





	Alliance

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short one folks, to see if you guessed her answer!

The world shifted beneath Erika’s feet as she met the blue eyes of the man kneeling before her. His face held such hope and was filled with anticipation of her answer and it was almost heartbreaking to see the vulnerability there; he had laid himself bare, and in front of so many people. As the whoops and happy chatter chimed like a cacophony of magpies in the distant verges of her mind, Loki became the whole centre of her existence to the exclusion of all else and his words echoed in her mind over and over: “Will you be my wife?”

 

 _How had she got to this point_?

 

Flashes of memories assaulted her mind’s eye as she tried to process the question Loki had just asked her: finding him in the King’s suite, being struck in anger, being kissed in the height of passion, being held onto grimly as he almost died…so much had gone on. Yet one thing remained constant: their loyalty towards one another. Hers had begun as a deeply ingrained duty as his subject but had evolved into love, and his had eventually been created from witnessing hers. No matter what he had done, she had remained resilient and had forgiven time and again the hurt he had visited upon her. Dreadful losses had been suffered, incredible feats of endurance had been undergone and the moments of sweetness had been welcome, if short-lived. All of this had made the two years – was that all it had been? – she had been known to him a journey of momentous proportions.

 

Yet all she had wished for in those oft-tormented months was now coming to pass: for Loki to become a man of worth with no hidden agendas, for the terrible wars with other Gods to be left behind, for the regal obligations to be lifted from his shoulders, and for the chance to lead a simple life together… all of her deepest desires were being granted in this beautiful prison created out of Thor’s yearning to ensure the Trickster could live out his life a happy man.

 

The only thing that could mar all of this in Erika’s mind was exactly that: they were prisoners. As the seconds since Loki’s proposal grew and she saw the beginnings of doubt appear around the corners of his eyes, she realised he needed an answer, but what was she to say?

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

_Why had he allowed himself to be encouraged into doing such a thing?_

 

Had it been the heady rush of being at a wedding? Had it been the feelings of seeing Erika far outshining – in his eyes at least – every other woman present, including the bride? The encouragement by Hans earlier on in the day to propose to Erika had seemed a fantastic idea as they had been off-loading the cart of bridal ale and the opportunity of influencing the outcome of the throwing of the bouquet had been the ideal way to bring all of this about, but things felt a whole lot different now that he was kneeling in front of her as everyone looked on. Loki held Erika’s hand tenderly where they were bound by his offered betrothal bonds and looked to her, awaiting his answer. Yet the seconds grew long and he detected a far-off look in her eyes even as they were directed at him, leaving him wondering what she was thinking.

 

Had this all been a mistake? Had he allowed himself to be coerced into looking like some sort of a fool? The air of romance was very strong of course, with it being a wedding, but there were no other fellows proposing marriage to their women… only he. As the excited chatter and happy laughter surrounded the couple, Loki began to feel as if he had completely misjudged the situation and Erika’s feelings towards him, and a tight feeling began in his chest. He should never have listened to Hans, _never_ done this! He needed to think of a way to get out of this situation and maintain his – and Erika’s – dignity somehow! He racked his brains for a solution and managed to come up with one straight away. It was not perfect, but it would do and if Erika followed his lead, they would entertain the wedding guests and save face all at the same time. He began to let go of her hand, but as he did so, she suddenly stared at him and gripped his hand harder.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The sensation of Loki’s grip loosening a fraction on her hand brought Erika out of her distant musings and she focussed back on Loki only to see that doubt had now spread across his handsome features and he was starting to become embarrassed. She squeezed his hand in reassurance; although he had wrong-footed her, this was a question she had wondered about on more than one occasion and had played out all the various paths her answer could potentially lead to. They were not in the setting she had envisaged in her many day dreams, but they were here none-the-less and he deserved an answer before anyone started to think there may be a problem of some kind.

 

“I _will_ marry you, Loki Laufeyson, but there are conditions…”

 

An amused hum arose from their audience now and someone joked “The woman has standards!” to much laughter. The tension that had potentially begun to grow between her and Loki was dispersed and he gave her a puzzled, if relieved, frown. He swallowed nervously and smiled.

 

“Conditions?”

“Yes, conditions.”

 

Erika paused as she thought about how to say her next words. What she had to say was a risk, but she had to keep in mind her instructions about not triggering some sort of bad memories for Loki while accepting his proposal, “I want there to be no pomp, nor circumstance. There will be no travelling to the city to announce our betrothal; there will be no entourage from the city arriving here for any of this. We will make our plans together, here, with our friends. As much as it may be unusual, I want no involvement from anyone we left behind in order to start afresh here. This is our _new_ life…” she brought her other hand to clasp their knotted hands and pulled him gently to his feet. “ _Our_ life, Loki. One we have striven for through many hardships and struggles. I want our wedding here, with Hans and Sarah and all our new friends and once it is done, we can send a messenger to the city to tell them the news.”

 

She looked at her beautiful God, trying to detect any change in his expression, to see any clue that he would not like what she had said and she reached up to stroke his ruddy cheek. He stared down at her, absorbing her every word and smiling unbelievingly, and she stood on her tip toes to bring her lips to his.

 

“I love you Loki and I would be honoured to be your wife.”

**Author's Note:**

> Could this be it? Could they finally be getting what they have longed for?


End file.
